Megan and Ian

How We Met

Ian and I met at Valdosta State University in April of 2014. I was currently a Resident Assistant in Langdale Residence Hall. Langdale was [for that year] an all-girls hall, but at the last minute housing added one floor of upperclassmen guys. One of the first things my RHD [Residence Hall Director] told us [the staff had all girls and one guy] not to date any of the residents. We all busted out laughing and knew that we would never do such a thing. I knew one of the guys in the hall, Antoine. We both lived in Brown Hall [Shout out to Brown Town] our Freshman Year. He would stop by the desk every now and then just to say hi. Well in April of 2014 Antoine’s roommate, Ian, started coming to the desk with him to hang out with the RA’s. Ian would come to the desk every now and again with Antoine just to stop by and say hi. There were even times he would be at the desk waiting for me to come work or get out of class just so he could talk with me. On April 11, 2014, Ian and Antoine came with myself and the other RA’s to Relay for Life. If you have ever attended Relay for Life, you then know that it runs through the night. Since it is hosted on VSU’s campus, it only runs until 2 am. Since we all stayed out there until past midnight, at 12 am Ian was actually the first person to tell me Happy Birthday! [I had mentioned earlier in the week that my birthday was on April 12. Who knew that he would actually remember]. I did think he was really cute, but I knew nothing could ever happen since he lived in the Hall I was working in, so I stopped talking to him altogether because I didn’t want to lead him on…[Sorry, Ian! It was for the best]. Jump forward to May of 2014 I was getting ready to start my summer position as an RA in Hopper Hall. One of my co-workers, who has worked with me in Langdale came running up to me telling me that Ian was single [She knew I had a crush on him] and that I should message him! I told her no since I had no idea if he even liked me…Well, she messaged him and asked if he even had a “crush on me” [I know…very middle school]. He did and next thing I knew I had a message from THE Ian Hancock. About two weeks later Ian drove down from Macon, GA to take me on our First date. He took me to my favorite restaurant, Chili’s, we walked around campus for a while, and to find out we are both HUGE “How I met your mother” fans, so we ended the date by watching some of our favorite episodes before he left to go back to Macon. We continued to talk for a few more weeks. On June 14th, 2014 he took me on a date to go Kayaking at Reed Bingham State Park [Right outside of Valdosta,GA]. After we went Kayaking I went back to get ready for our date that night. When he picked me up for our date, he was holding a yellow umbrella. When I got to the car we were both under the umbrella and he asked me to be his “Girl with the yellow umbrella” [A HIMYM reference]. I didn’t tell him this until later, but I was just talking to one of my friends, who didn’t know Ian, on how it would be so sweet if he asked me out with a yellow umbrella…and then HE DID! [The Lord works in mysterious ways].

how they asked

On Monday, December 11, 2017, Ian left for work (at 5 am) and before he left for work he kept saying to me over and over again…”Today is going to be a great day!”. He kissed me and left for work. As I was on my way to work, I kept asking myself…why did he keep saying “Today is going to be a great day!” to me over and over again. Well, that day I knew he was going to go fishing after work at Reed Binghman State Park, which is actually where we had our first official date. Around 4 pm he called, I had to silence the call because I was in a meeting for work. I texted him asking if everything was okay! He said yes, but his car broke down and he was going to call AAA. I didn’t want him waiting for AAA in the dark since it was at least a 30-minute drive to get out to him. As soon as the meeting was over, I ran out the door to make sure I made it to Reed Bingham before dark. I finally made it to the state park, I started to drive towards the island where his car was parked. In a distance, I saw lights hanging in a tree, which I thought were Christmas lights (It was that time of year). As I am driving in, I see Ian standing under the lights…….I thought to myself….this is either a really nice date or he is about to propose!!!! I parked my car at the end of the bridge… He walks me under the lights, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!!! Of course, I said yes! <3